Final 2013 MBSLA Top 10

With the MBSLA season culminating in a State Championship victory for #1 ranked Hudson,
Northern Lights Lacrosse is releasing their final Top 10 of the season.

Photo from MN Lax Hub

Our "bracketology" predictions proved to be almost eerily accurate unfortunately at the expense of northern Minnesota teams.  Becker was the bracket-buster and blew up some of our predictions from the beginning.  Our prediction of St. Louis Park beating Duluth in the semi-finals for the right to play in the Championship game was all too accurate and a tough pill to swallow for this northern Minnesota lacrosse fan.  In our bracketology predictions we said, "The difference:  Duluth will have to travel 2+ hours to a neutral site for this one.  They'll sleepwalk through the first quarter and the Orioles are WAY to good to allow Duluth to overcome an early deficit.  Duluth will fight back, but in the end, St. Louis Park wins."  That statement proved to be spot on.  Duluth made the long trip down to a neutral site at Minneapolis Washburn (2.5 hours for Duluth; 16 minutes for St. Louis Park), they slept through the 2nd quarter and were down 8-2 at halftime after giving up 6 goals in the second.  Duluth did fight back and outscored the Orioles 5-3 in the second half, but it wouldn't be enough in their 11-7 playoff loss, their first loss of the season.  Other than the Becker upsets, our playoff bracketology was correct for every other game in the playoffs!

Hats off to Becker for a great run in the playoffs.  And, talk about battling back!  Duluth jumped out to a seemingly insurmountable 11-1 lead in the first half of the 3rd place game.  They were taking their frustrations out on Becker and then a light switched off for Duluth and on for Becker.  Becker battled back in the second half, and in the end Duluth eked out a 14-13 victory to take 3rd place in State.  Becker placed a very deserving 4th place.

On to our final rankings.  Hudson clearly earns the top spot with a nice 9-5 State Championship victory over St. Louis Park.  St. Louis Park moves up to #2 after beating Duluth in the semifinals and then battling mightily against Hudson in the State Championship game before falling in the end.  It was the Orioles 6th trip to the state championship game in 7 years.  Duluth drops to #3 after losing their first game of the season in the playoffs to St. Louis Park.  Duluth completes their most successful season in club history with a 14-1 season record.  St. Paul remains at #4 after beating a good Northfield team and then losing in the playoffs to a very good Duluth team.  St. Paul's Junior attackman Jesse Rice may be the best MBSLA player we've seen play all year.  Shattuck-St. Mary's stays at #5.  MontiQuois stays at #6 after beating a surprising Proctor team and then dropping one to runner-up St. Louis Park.  Becker moves into the Top 10 at #7 after their spectacular run through the playoffs eventually finishing 4th at the state tournament.  Props to Becker!  Northfield drops to #8 and despite a losing record (5-6), this team was good.  All of their losses were to Top 5 or playoff teams.  They deserve their spot at #8.  Grand Rapids drops to #9 after losing in the first round of the playoffs to Becker.  Unfortunately for Grand Rapids, Mr. Hyde showed up as we predicted and they dropped their opening round playoff game.  Fargo rounds out the Top 10 at #10 after their solid opening round victory over St. Cloud North (just as we predicted :-).  Unfortunately for them, their next playoff game was against eventual state champion Hudson.

 

RANK	TEAM	RECORD	PREV
1	Hudson	12-0	1
2	St. Louis Park	12-3	3
3	Duluth	14-1	2
4	St. Paul	6-5	4
5	Shattuck-St. Mary's	5-1	5
6	MontiQuois	7-4	6
7	Becker	9-5	NR
8	Northfield	5-6	7
9	Grand Rapids	5-4	8
10	Fargo	6-4	9

It ended up being a very good and very exciting MBSLA season after a very rough start with the slow Spring and eternal Winter.  Here's to hoping for an earlier Spring in 2014 and an even more exciting MBSLA season!